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Research Centres

The School of Divinity, History and Philosophy has a number of research centres led by members of staff who are experts in their respective fields. A ‘research centre’ is a group of scholars dedicated to providing support for each others’ work and to opening up opportunities for the development of high-quality publications related to the research focus of their centre. Centres support collaborations between scholars in other disciplines and also outside of Aberdeen, establishing links with other universities. They also run public and internal lectures and seminars and publicise research in a way that would otherwise not have been possible.

Inaugurated in 2017 on the five-hundredth anniversary of the European Reformation, the Aberdeen Centre for Protestant Theology (ACPT) is purposed to facilitate, coordinate and promote advanced research in the field of Christian theology. Its intellectual ambition encompasses both critical examination of the historic forms, developments and implications of Protestant thought as well as constructive engagement in its most pressing contemporary tasks in relation to church and world.

ACREEH was created in 2007 to bring together the diverse range of scholars in the Department of History with research interests in the history of Russia, Northeastern and East Central Europe. It builds on the long tradition of interest at Aberdeen in Eastern Europe and Russia, and especially the activities of the University’s Centre for Russian, East and Central European Studies (created in 1989–90).

The Centre for Early Modern Studies brings together distinguished early modern scholars in all the major disciplines, and fosters collaborative research in the fields of history, philosophy, religion, literature, and the other arts. It is situated in one of the oldest British universities, whose extensive and unique historic collections go back to the library of the university’s founder, Bishop William Elphinstone (1431-1514). The collection of 7,000 early printed books includes 231 published before 1501, and contains many early books on the history of science and medicine, and the MacBean Collection of Jacobite books and pamphlets (one of the largest Jacobite collections in the country). Manuscript holdings include papers of the philosopher Thomas Reid, who taught at Aberdeen.

The Centre for Global Security and Governance (recently merged with the Centre for the Study of Global Empires) brings together academic experts, policy makers, and students from across the University of Aberdeen, the United Kingdom, and the globe to define, analyse, and propose remedies to the most pressing security and governance challenges the world faces in the 21st century.

The Centre for Ministry Studies was established in January 2014 under the leadership of Professor John Swinton and is co-ordinated by Rev Dr Ken Jeffrey. The Centre, a collaboration between the University of Aberdeen; Christ’s College and the Church of Scotland, works closely with churches and organisations from all traditions with the shared purpose of facilitating ministry education, research and training across a wide range of contexts for lay and ordained people.

The Centre aims to serve individuals and communities by providing programmes of education and training that will support people in their ministry wherever they are. The Centre’s goal is to make ministry education and training as widely accessible as possible.

'What the centre provides is an answer to prayer for me and I want to spread the news about it wherever I can!'
Rev Jim Pirie

Aberdeen has one of the largest concentrations of experts on early Scandinavia in the British Isles, including: Stefan Brink, Ralph O'Connor, Frederik Pedersen, Lisa Collinson, and David Dumville, among others.

The purpose of the Centre is to bring together these experts to coordinate research projects, provide research facilities and supervision, teaching for Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes and to promote Scandinavian Studies generally.

The Centre for HPSTM acts as the focus for research and teaching in the history, philosophy and ethics of science, technology and medicine at the University of Aberdeen. Staff are housed within History, Philosophy, English and other departments and units, including Anthropology and the Marischal Museum.

Aberdeen lies at the hub of a region that extends eastwards to the Nordic and Baltic countries and to northern Russia and Siberia, and westwards to Iceland, Greenland, Canada and Alaska. This region, known as the 'circumpolar North', is defined by latitude and the tight intersection of climatic, environmental, historical, geopolitical and cultural conditions. These come together to give it a significance for the future of life on earth out of proportion to its relatively sparse human population. Aberdeen offers a base for northern research that uniquely affords a truly circumpolar perspective. The University has already established a leading international research reputation in a number of fields, such as geosciences, environmental biology, archaeology, anthropology, and Scandinavian studies.